The present invention relates to a protective sanitary cover and more particularly relates to a protective cover to shield children from germs and dirt that may be found on shopping carts, high chairs, infant seats, and similar publicly used seating devices. The cover the present invention also provides insulation and comfort to a child or infant within a shopping cart or infant seat.
Parents and custodians often place infants and small children in seating devices and conveyances such as shopping carts, infant seats, and strollers. Placing infants or young children in the child seats of public shopping carts presents the problems of sanitation and comfort. Since shopping carts and infant seats are available at such locations such as supermarkets, shopping malls and the like, these items are used by the public. Generally, these devices are not washed or disinfected between uses. Because of the repeated use of these devices by the public, these devices present problems of sanitation. Germs left as a result of the repeated use can easily be passed to the child occupant as a result of the child coming in contact with the shopping cart, car seat, public high chair, publicly used strollers.
Parents and custodians have become aware of this problem and employ a number of approaches to minimize the spread of germs to an infant or child using an infant seat, shopping cart seat, public high chair, the like. Some parents simply attempt to disinfect the device by use of disinfectant sprays or products such as disinfectant wipes which may be carried in a purse or pocket and unpackaged and used to wipe the surfaces. The difficulty with this approach is that it is virtually impossible for the parent or guardian to reach all of the surfaces particularly in an object such as a shopping cart.
Various prior art patents show covers for the protection of small children. U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,937 discloses a handle cover for a shopping cart which is formed from a padded fabric strip. Velcro fasteners are provided for securing the strip around the handle of a conventional shopping cart. The cover provides protection against germs, dirt and disease to small children riding in the shopping cart seat. A seat cover for providing added protection and comfort to the child riding in shopping cart seat includes strap fasteners for attachment to the handle cover. The seat cover and handle cover may be folded to compact sizes for convenient storage and transportation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,701 shows a disposable infant seat liner with shoulder straps receiving slotways and leg or crotch strap receiving slotways designed to fit infant seat liners having various strap placements. Infant seat handle or strap receiving slotways may also be included and may be of an arcuate shape for receiving infant carrier handles or waist straps. The strap receiving slotways may be selectively open by a user and may also be perforated to facilitate to selective opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,437 shows a portable, collapsible child safety seat for use within a shopping cart. The portable, collapsible child safety seat comprises a seat support frame securable to an interior rear wall of the shopping cart wherein the seat support frame comprises the first L-shape member and a second L-shaped member. The portable, collapsible child safety seat further comprises a collapsible seating member for suspending a child within the shopping cart.
A liner for a shopping cart child seat is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,250. The apparatus supports a seated infant in a shopping cart. Side members comfortably support the infant in an upright position while allowing the infant to move his head and arms freely. The backrest is padded and made of flexible material that conforms to an infants posture when seated. The base is padded and has an extension providing additional comfort to the infants legs when seated. An attachment strap holds the liner into the child""s seat while a restraining strap holds the child within the liner. The upper portion of the backrest folds down for easy storage and transportation of the liner when not in use. The liner is specifically configured to work cooperatively with the wire basket construction shopping cart having protruding wires which provide discomfort to a child sitting within the child seat without a liner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,888 shows a shopping cart child seat cover made from pliable material having a seat section, a back section, a front section and two side sections. The seat section is sized and shaped to fit on the top of a seat bottom of a child seat portion of a shopping cart. Cover fasteners are positioned on portions of the back section of the child seat cover at which a portion of the back section that is positioned against a back wall the child seat engages a container side portion of the back section and hangs down over the top of the back wall of the child seat. In like manner, cover fasteners are provided on portions of the front and side sections of the seat cover. The pliable material is designed to be washable, soft and cushiony. Optional features may include a safety belt, bottle holder, toy holder and cushions.
All of the various prior devices and approaches to the problem of infant sanitation and comfort may provide partial solutions to the problem, but have certain deficiencies. Some covers and liners are not disposable and therefore are bulky and must be carried with the parent and installed in the cart or other device at the time of use and require laundering between uses. Several covers are found on the market may be folded to a compact size for storage and unfolded at the time of use. However, these covers are sometimes difficult to attach and do not accommodate shopping carts, infant seats and infant carriers of different sizes. Accordingly, there exists a need for a sanitary cover which is convenient and compact and which can easily be carried by the child or custodian and deployed and easily installed at time of use. Further there exists a need for a cover which may be a single-use device which is disposable or which may be reused at the election of the parent or custodian.
In view of the deficiencies of the prior art as set forth above, the present invention provides an improved sanitary cover for one or more children in shopping carts, high chairs, infant seat strollers and similar conveyance and child seating devices. The present invention is a sanitary seat cover that protects children from dirt, debris, contaminants common to most public infant devices such as shopping carts, high chairs and the like. The cover is configured to fit seats of various sizes and will protect up to two toddlers, as for example, two toddlers as seated in the seat of a larger size shopping cart. The material is a strong, cross-fiber sheeting similar to that used for such applications as sanitary dentist office bibs. Preferably the material is coated on one side with impervious coating to repel moisture. The soft fiber side of the material presents a comfortable surface for the infant while the non-porous side creates a barrier to moisture and other elements that may exist on the seat""s surface.
The cover is reusable and, for example, could be used by a parent or guardian several times during a shopping excursion. The seat attaches to the cart by fasteners that may be loop and hook-type fasteners such as the type sold under the Trademark Velcro(copyright) may be adhesive tabs which may be easily deployed at the time of use. Preferably the material is a biodegradable material which will degrade safely and naturally once disposal has occurred. The cover is of a size so that is large enough to cover all the surfaces which the child or infant may encounter while using the cover and the cover is dimensioned to extend over the handle front, rear and opposite sides of the seat area of a shopping cart. Perforated areas are provided which can be removed as required by the parent or guardian to allow the child""s legs to extend through the cover and through the openings such as the leg receiving openings in a shopping cart frame.
While the present invention in intended primarily for use in connection with shopping carts, product is also suitable for other applications which a parent may require a sanitary shield including car seats, public high chairs, strollers and the like. The above other objects and advantages will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following description, claims and drawings in which: